Teenager Cesare Liberatore remembered as ‘loving young man’ by family
An 18-year-old from Melbourne’s northern suburbs is being remembered as a “beautiful young man” after he was killed in a three-car crash in the early hours of Saturday.
Cesare Liberatore was returning home from Federation Square, where he had spent the early hours watching the Socceroos lose their World Cup match against the United States.
Liberatore was a passenger in a Mitsubishi Triton utility company that police said drove the wrong way on Attwood and crashed into two oncoming vehicles.
He died in the hospital with his family by his side.
Cesare, named after the Roman ruler by his history-loving parents, left his home in Tullamarine with some colleagues at around 11pm.
Cesare’s last message to his father was sent at 4 a.m., but his father was asleep and did not see him until 7 a.m.
Since Cesare was still not home hours later, Zarr Liberatore eventually learned of the accident when a friend of her son called her.
Zarr then called his mother, Mary. “He was beside himself,” Cesare’s grandmother said. “He was just saying, ‘He’s gone, he’s gone, he’s gone.’”
Mary was driving at the time and stopped in the middle of the road, paralyzed from shock. He eventually needed his sister to take him to the Royal Melbourne Hospital; Here the family spent three precious hours stroking Cesare’s face and saying goodbye.
“Two weeks ago tonight we celebrated his 18th birthday and had a lovely night with 30 family and friends who loved him so much,” he said.
“We are all in shock. It is incomprehensible that he is so young, handsome, smart, talented, a football player and an athlete and his life is ruined.” [it’s] It’s not fair at all. “He was the most beautiful child in the world.”
Mary Liberatore spoke to The Age on Saturday night. Weeping over the loss of Cesare, she now wants to share with people what a special young man he was. Zarr and Cesare’s mother, Simonetta, are almost identical.
“Everyone loved him and he always wanted people to laugh. He was so charismatic, he would light up a room,” Simonetta said.
And he loved the round ball game.
“He was playing until this year, unfortunately he tore his ACL when he was 14,” he said, “but even after that he came back because he loved being around his friends and being around them.”
“We had countless friends reaching out to us today out of the blue, even friends from grade school are reaching out to her sister, so it was really great to hear how loved and special she was.”
The condition of the 18-year-old boy driving the car Cesare was in and the 17-year-old boy sitting in the front seat is in critical condition in the hospital. The drivers of the other two cars involved, aged in their 20s and 50s, were taken to hospital for observation.
Police continue to investigate what caused the accident. But Simonetta says that no matter what, there are lessons to be learned from the trauma she experienced.
“Drive kids safely, you know. Taking lives into their own hands is a huge responsibility these kids have.”
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